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"   The sad lack of strong female characters in films has been in the limelight recently, with the likes of Sandra Bullock and Keira Knightley criticising the shortage of lead roles for women. If ever more proof was needed that things need to change, then it comes in the form of a recent study from Vocativ, which shows that the highest grossing films of 2013 were also the ones that passed the Bechdel test.  Named after cartoonist Alison Bechdel, the test basically looks at whether there are two or more women in the film, and whether they speak to each other about anything other than a man (immediately ruling out about a million rom coms), and has been introduced in a slightly altered format in Swedish cinemas. Films which did well in the test include The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (which took $391m), Despicable Me 2 ($368m) and Man of Steel ($291m). Less successful, in both the Bechdel test and box office takings, were Grown Ups 2, Jack and the Giant Slayer, Warm Bodies and 2 Guns. The figures definitely debunk the idea that people aren&amp;#039;t interested in seeing films starring strong female characters - just look at Gravity, which focused almost entirely on Sandra Bullock&amp;#039;s character and took an impressive $264m. Hopefully the powerful folk over in Hollywood are taking some notice and we&amp;#039;ll see more strong roles for women in the future.  14 WOMEN WHO KICKED ASS IN 2013 10 LIFE CHANGING BOOKS EVERY WOMAN SHOULD READ 10 FRIENDS EVERY GIRL HAS IN HER TWENTIES "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.cosmopolitan.co.uk/entertainment/a24769/film-female-characters-more-money/>